In meat packing house operation it is quite common to convey animal carcasses or parts thereof on overhead rails from one part of the plant to another, and in some instances the carcasses are moved on the rail from one statiion at which certain operations are performed to other stations at which other operations are performed, inspections made, etc., until the carcasses are moved, still on the rail, into the cooler or storage, completely dressed. In this description and claims I use the term "carcass" to mean a full carcass or any part thereof including halves or quarters of carcasses and also cuts such as hams, bellies, etc.
When it is necessary to mark the carcasses as having passed inspection or as to grade or quality of meat, it has been customary to use hand operated stamping devices and an operator moves the hand operated stamping device to each carcass as it passes along on the rail conveyor. What is needed is a stamping device which would automatically stamp the carcass as it passes, however, the carcasses each are free to swing from side to side of the rail and also back and forth along the direction of the rail, and this appears to have prevented prior automatic devices from coming into use in connection with the rail conveyor. Therefore, I have set myself to the task of providing marking apparatus which will work effectively in combination with the rail conveyor system. I further have attempted to provide such a device which will be simple of construction and which can easily be cleaned as is required in packing house operation.